Can we talk a bit about Football?

[Peace]

I grew up playing football, played right up until my senior year of high school.

 

I think it is a great game, a great opportunity for grit and character development.

 

 

I really struggle these days watching young guys get collarbones broken, knees blown out, and professionals with OBVIOUS concussion signs staying in the game.

 

-Thursday I watched Romo re-break his collarbone.  Just now, I saw a Michigan player get his shoulder or collarbone crunched.

 

 

Way back when... I played with a guy who was knocked out in a football game once.  - This was years before we cared about that kind of thing.  ... this guy stayed in the game even though he couldn't remember what the play was or what the snap count was from huddle to line.  - A couple of the guys were concerned, but coaching staff and most folks thought nothing of it at the time.

 

 

Am I just getting old?  I love the game, though I get ill watching people incur injuries that will be with them forever.

Edited November 28, 2015 by Peace

[Omega]

Well, speaking of NFL and some scholarship recipients they get compensated much better than our military does.  And the equipment they use is much better than it has ever been.  Football has become big business, and many players have to have their helmet taken away to keep them off the field, because they know their paychecks depend on it.

[Grand Torino]

When I was in HS the biggest lineman was 6-2 and weighed about 245. Most were in the 220 range. I was a fullback and I weighed 205. My school was a AAAA school...one of the biggest in the region.

 

I went to a HS game the other week and it was between two small schools. They had 280 linemen and 230 pound RB's.

 

I'm convinced that over all the kids today are much bigger.......and faster. When they collide it isn't always pretty even with all the improved equipment. It's like getting hit my a car. And the NFL well......it's like getting hit by a train. The human body just isn't equipped to take that kind of punishment over and over again. Something has to give and usually something does.

[TNMTBik3r]

Obvious concussion signs, you mean Case Keenum getting his bell rung the other day? It was obvious he needed off the field and yet still stayed in and the refs didn't stop play and have him pulled. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amcyZiH6Skk

 

 

Injuries are bound to happen in a physical sport especially when the players are just getting bigger and faster each year it seems. Too many are concerned with the paycheck and will continue taking the abuse for years unfortunately. 

 

Look at my favorite QB, Brett Favre and all the hits he took over the years. He finally retired and then announced he had some memory loss due to the concussions. On the flip side is the 49ers Chris Borland who retired after 1 season due to fear of injury in the sport.

[Oh Shoot]

When I was in HS the biggest lineman was 6-2 and weighed about 245. Most were in the 220 range. I was a fullback and I weighed 205. My school was a AAAA school...one of the biggest in the region.

 

I went to a HS game the other week and it was between two small schools. They had 280 linemen and 230 pound RB's.

 

I'm convinced that over all the kids today are much bigger.......and faster. When they collide it isn't always pretty even with all the improved equipment. It's like getting hit my a car. And the NFL well......it's like getting hit by a train. The human body just isn't equipped to take that kind of punishment over and over again. Something has to give and usually something does.

 

Have read a couple of articles about just that, the purely physical side of the human body.

 

Just because you can pack on an extra 50 to 100 lbs onto a human frame doesn't mean the rest of the body is designed to be able to handle it, even if all of it is muscle.

 

The skeleton doesn't bulk up along with the extra weight, whether fat or muscle, and tendons and ligaments don't keep pace exactly proportionally either. So forget the collisions, there's going to be a certain amount of extra wear and tear and outright failure of the sub-structure and connecting tissues just from propelling the mass around. And the torque stress required to get from stationary to full speed and the like in short amount of time is enormous.

 

It's like expecting a cheetah weighing 30% more than optimum to have the same durability running down gazelles, or dropping a 440 hemi into a Pinto with no modifications to all the connecting systems between it and the rubber meeting the road and expecting everything to hold together when you put the foot down over and over.

 

- OS

Edited November 28, 2015 by Oh Shoot

[10-Ring]

I have mixed feelings.  As a high school and college student I was a wrestler.  Later I rode motorcycles recreationally and raced them as well. Both took a toll on my body in different ways. 

I did lots of things to my body as a wrestler that were not healthy, especially not for a growing boy.  I stayed dehydrated on purpose, I ate very little, certainly didn't get enough nourishment.  I spent hours in saunas wearing trash bags.  I understand that TSSAA has done a lot since I was wrestling to curb these things.  When I was in high school there were rules about what you did and didn't do to make weight but everyone including the coach treated it as a don't ask don't tell thing and the only important thing was making weight.  Besides depriving myself of nutrition I suffered concussions, a shoulder separations and a nose that was broken more times than I could count. 

During the course of riding motorcycles I suffered concussions, broken ribs, a broken clavicle, and a severely separated shoulder.  Point being many activities that we enjoy have inherent risks.  Perhaps it could be argued that I didn't make the best choices as a high school and even college aged wrestler, looking back now some of the things that I did were not very smart but I got tunnel vision and all that mattered was making weight.  As a motorcycle rider being a somewhat mature adult I completely understood the risks.  Likewise I'm not really concerned about Tony Romo breaking his collar bone, that's just part of the risk of playing the game.  I do have some concern with high school and college aged athletes that are encouraged by their coaches to make unhealthy decisions and sacrifice their bodies for the schools athletic program.  Once they make it to the big leagues they are mature enough to make their own decisions.